Questions from a newbee in Central IL (Zone 5)

Jingles · March 31, 2008, 04:32:41 PM

thanks ahead of time for those of you who can and take the time to answer my questions.....I"m trying to convince myself these are not silly questions.......

I've had one hive for about 3 years. I don't mess with (inspect) them much. The first year, they did great. We got the bees kinda late cuz the keeper we got the starter bees and queens from got hit by an awful storm, so he was behind schedule.....BUT they did great that year. The second year the bees swarmed before I knew what hit me (ever been standing in the midst of a swarming? It was WAY cool!!!!) and they were gone.....and I was left with who-knows-what-kinda queen, right? I wasn't too worried, though, and I let them raise their own queen and all looked good. I left them with a brood box (or two) and a super for wintertime.

Now THIS springtime, I'm just dying to mess with them! I gave them some sugar water in early March and they seemed to just love it. We had an amazingly WARM day, so I decided to do a long-overdue inspection.

Much to my surprise, there were many many busy bees! The top two boxes were FULL of honey and there were many bees with pollen all over their legs........now just WHERE did they get that pollen? Not even the forsythias have bloomed yet around here!! Not a crocus in sight (well, the neighbors might have some, we don't) and the tulips aren't even close!!

So I stopped the sugar water (they don't need it, apparently!) but I didn't make the inspection to the lowest brood chamber, yet. It has been super chilly and wet, now, and I haven't checked on the brood box (shoulda done it that day, but the bees were getting really annoyed with me, despite my billowing smoker).......and now I have a new queen coming on Friday. I'd LOVE to split them and have 2 hives! I was really thinking I'd HAVE to requeen this hive (it has been 2 years, after all!) but it seems to be doing great! I thought I'd have a weak hive. Do you ALWAYS replace the queen every year or every 2 years no matter what? Should I wait til I can get into the brood chambers and see how she is laying? How can I tell for sure if she is laying enough to continue a strong hive?

Thanks for a great forum, everyone! I am so glad I found you!

Love, Marla

Michael Bush · March 31, 2008, 09:14:31 PM

Sounds like you need to start heading off swarming.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesswarmcontrol.htm

indypartridge · April 01, 2008, 05:22:56 AM

Quote from: Jingles........now just WHERE did they get that pollen?

I'm about an hour south of Indianapolis, so our climates are pretty close. I'm guessing the early pollen was from maple trees.

Quote from: JinglesI'd LOVE to split them...

Also at Michael's website:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beessplits.htm

Quote from: JinglesDo you ALWAYS replace the queen every year or every 2 years no matter what?

That's one of those questions where you'll likely get a lot of different answers. Many beeks are strong advocates of requeening every year, and there's some good reasons for it. Many would say 2 years is the limit. For me personally, I hate getting rid of a queen that's doing well and replace her with an "unproven" queen. I've been reading Ross Conrad's "Natural Beekeeping", and he lets the bees decide when to replace a queen.

Michael Bush · April 01, 2008, 07:25:22 AM

I seldom requeen at all. Usually by the time I notice anything is wrong the bees have things well in hand and have already raised a new queen. If they are having trouble and have not, I will requeen.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#requeening

Scadsobees · April 01, 2008, 09:33:05 AM

Early pollen: willows, maple, crocus

I've got crocuses and maples in bloom here, several hours north of you, although not an appreciable amount of pollen being brought into the hive.

You do have a fairly young queen. Swarm queens are typically fine. She should be fine for the next year. I'm with the others, only requeen when I see problems or if I want certain characteristics of a certain line of bees.

You do really need to get into the brood box before determining to split or not. They could have a lot of honey left and be bringing in pollen but not have a lot of brood yet. You would want at least ??? 6 ??? frames of brood before splitting.

Rick

Jingles · April 01, 2008, 09:54:23 AM

Thanks so much, Everyone!!!

I will let you know how it goes. I guess I have LOTS of bee reading to do today (pretty chilly for a brood inspection,methinks, it will be much warmer tomorrow)!

Thank you! Thank you!!

Love, Marla

_Brenda_ · April 01, 2008, 04:48:39 PM

I'm not sure where in central Il., you are, but I'm also new (haven't got my bees yet), and I found a Beekeeping group in Springfield, IL. (Lincoln Land Beekeepers)
I'm further south, so I also joined one near St. Louis.

Jingles · April 01, 2008, 05:12:11 PM

Quote from: Double Bee on April 01, 2008, 04:48:39 PM
I'm not sure where in central Il., you are, but I'm also new (haven't got my bees yet), and I found a Beekeeping group in Springfield, IL. (Lincoln Land Beekeepers)
I'm further south, so I also joined one near St. Louis.

Hey,Brenda!!

I'm up by Peoria.

When are you expecting your bees? We make it down to Springfield and Jax (where I grew up) every now and again.

Love, Marla